A/N: Hello hello and welcome to my new followers. A new chapter is here. It's a bit long, but I promised to include Regina in this one, so I decided not to save it for the next chapter. The story is almost over btw. There is 1 chapter left (maybe 2 if it turns out to be really long). Feel free to send me your thoughts, ideas or wishes for the sequel! xx

Ariel skittered along the streets to keep up with everyone else. Emma and her parents were on a mission, no mistake made about that. Hook was equally eager to get to the bottom of things. Ariel, however, seemed the only one not entirely sure about the plan. Releasing Pan from Pandora's box was a terrifying concept to her. It was the sole magical weapon that could hold him and now they were freeing him again. Granted, Emma wanted to do this across the town line where Pan had no magic, still, he'd find a way to escape, she was sure of that. And then, they'd all be in danger.

The deeper Ariel sunk into her thoughts the further behind she got. Eyebrows deeply furrowed, eyes on her feet, so as to not trip over them. Hook glanced over his shoulder and took note of her straggling.

"Are you alright love?"

"Hm," she nodded, trying her hardest to ignore the needle pricking-like sensation on the soles of her feet.

Hook gave her an expression that conveyed he knew she was full of it.

"Let's just keep going," Ariel disregarded him.

"I won't let any harm come to you." Hook replied to her unspoken fears.

"Is it that obvious?" she chuckled.

"Only to impressively perceptive pirates such as myself, love."

Ariel rolled her eyes in amusement before knitting her brows firmly together again.

"I just thought... with Pan locked away, he would be no threat to me anymore and that I wouldn't have to live in fear."

"You don't," Hook assured her "I would die before I'd let him lay a hand on you."

Ariel smiled and layed her head against his shoulder as he draped his arm around her protectively.

Once at the shop, it didn't take much for Emma to convince Gold to get rid of Pan permanently. They were all in agreement, that while releasing Pan was a risk, never being sure he was truly gone, was possibly an even higher risk.

The ride over to the town line was a quiet one. No one spoke, but all were thinking, worrying or planning. Every now and then Belle would cast a glance in the mirror to Ariel, silently trying to convince both her friend, and herself that this was the right thing to do.

However, when the time came to place the box on the other side of the line and for Emma to draw her gun, neither Belle nor Ariel were all that sure of the outcome. Everyone stood back. Belle hiding behind Rumpelstiltskin, Snow clinging to Charming and Ariel buried in Hook's arms. The red smoke cleared and Pan stood up.

He was back.

Just the sight of the boy made the hairs at the back of Ariel's neck stand up. He was so close. One step and he'd be able to...

Yet, there was something off about him. Pan looked disoriented and when he turned around to face Emma, he held his arms out in front of him, looking scared. It was an odd look for him. It didn't make much sense to Ariel until he uttered that one word.

'Mom'.

Different sets of eyebrows were raised all around the group. Pan begging Emma to not shoot him, Rumpelstiltskin urging her to do just that. There was so much confusion.

In her desire to make sense of what was going on, Ariel neglected her feelings of concern and took a curious step forward. Her hand was still gripping Hook's coat while Hook was still gripping her wrist to keep her from wandering too far.

Perhaps he was playing games with them, with Emma, but Emma apprehensively persisted. Indeed her gut feeling proved her right, not but a few inquiries later she had established the true identity of the boy in front of them. It was Henry.

Snow and charming pulled their grandson in for a big hug. For a moment it warmed Ariel's heart. Thank goodness Henry was safe again. Then he turned around and she was staring right at Pan's face. Involuntarily she shied away from him. Henry noticed this immediately and was unsure of what to do. He didn't want to scare her but he also wanted to reassure her that it was really him in there.

"Ariel... i-it's okay, it's me. I promise."

While Hook's firm hold on her never faltered, Ariel extended her arm to him. He touched her and it was the strangest thing. She had remembered Pan's touch to be cold and hard, but even in his body, Henry's gentility showed through. It was him. Which meant that... Pan...

"If he's all the way out here, where's Pan?" Charming voiced Ariel's thoughts.

Pan had been on the loose all along. Pan was Henry. Ariel's head snapped up to look Hook dead in the eye. They were both thinking the same thing. While Henry had been locked up all this time, Pan had been roaming around free. He'd been alone with Ariel on the ship.

The ship. Henry had been acting so strange ever since the attack on the ship, how had she not figured it out? It gave her chills to know that she had been alone with him on several occasions. Why hadn't he simply attacked her then and there, or Regina, or any of them for that matter? There must be something he still wants. Henry's heart?

Pan made his way through the woods of Storybrooke, back to the assigned meeting spot. There was excitement in the air. His plan was coming together. He'd gathered all the ingredients he needed to cast the curse. Save for one.

"Felix!"

"Peter, that was quick. Did you get everything?"

Pan held out a pouch containing all sorts of exotic and other worldly substances.

"Can't believe you outwitted the queen in less than a day. These heroes aren't very bright, are they?"

Pan chuckled in agreement. "It's their love for one another that makes them so blind, so trusting. Weak. Remember that Felix, love is weakness."

Felix nodded gravely.

"Time to set the wheels in motion."

As Pan began to mix up the potions by dropping them into the depths of the well, Felix absentmindedly leaned on its edge.

"Peter... this curse. You said it was our back-up plan. What did you mean by that?"

"Like I said Felix, I need them to stop it, in order to acquire something greater, much more valuable. Stopping it entirely will be impossible, averting it, however isn't. When they do, we will all return to the place we were born."

Felix regarded his leader with reverence. Pan had a billiant mind, but he failed to see how simply returning to the place they had both tried so hard to get away from would benefit them.

"We will return," Pan continued when he saw the doubtful look on his friends face "with the Dark One's powers in our possession. My possession to be exact."

"What? But how is that even possible?"

"Oh I know Rumple hid the dagger, hence the little push he'll need to retrieve it."

Both boys smirked.

"Right, is that everything?"

"No, I just need one more thing."

"What's that?"

"The heart of the thing I love most."

Felix's eyes went wide. He wouldn't... not after everything they had been through together. Pan wouldn't sacrifice him. Besides, he just said love was weakness. There was no way that there was anything in the world that Pan loved. Except maybe...

"Me," Pan stated, almost proudly.

His answer was met with a bewildered reaction, "But then how will you stay alive?"

"One can live on without a heart Felix, however, not if the heart has been destroyed, which is what this curse will do, in order for it to succeed."

"Yes..." Felix confirmed, not immediately understanding why his leader was stating the obvious. Then it dawned on him, he would use his heart to sustain them both. After all, it wouldn't matter which heart resided in Peter's chest, just as long as he had one.

"Your heart will support me as it always has. What's more, with your heart inside me, it will be safe from crushing, I can promise you that." Pan assured Felix, while placing his hand securely on his friend's shoulder.

"Alright," Felix drawled in a determined tone. "Do it."

No sooner had he finished speaking the words, than Peter had his hand in his chest. The pain was agonizing. If he had to guess, he would say it was about as painful as having your shadow ripped from you. He looked down at where Peter was gripping his heart tightly. With one firm rip, he extracted his heart. When the pain subsided he opened his eyes to a reddish blackish heart pulsating in the palm of Peter's hand. It was such a surreal sight.

Next, Pan did something even more outragous, he plunged his hand past his own ribcage to ultimately present a heart darker than his. His wild grin painted him a maniac. Pupils wide with wonder and desire. He was about one step closer to his final goal. With a violent thrust, he shoved Felix's heart into its new host.

If Pan was nervous about crushing his own heart and essentially killing himself he never showed it. With cold determination he squeezed his hand into a fist until nothing but ashes was left. He crumbled it into the well and watched as the curse took effect.

"W-we're still alive," Felix breathed heavily.

"Did you ever doubt me?" Pan asked with a smug grin on Henry's face.

"Any plans on getting back in your own body?"

"Nah, they'll soon figure out I'm still alive and they will want to protect Henry. They'll undoubtably find a way to switch us back. Let them scramble to achieve it. It'll be fun to watch."

"But what if they fail," Felix asked, clearly not having the same amount of faith in the heroes as Pan had.

"Oh they won't...but if they do, I'll switch us back in due time. Being me just isn't the same without my good looks." Pan cocked an eyebrow playfully as Felix grinned at him.

"So after we succeed, who gets to pay first?"

"I think you'll find, that the payback has already begun."

Pan was cursing Storybrooke. Again. Ariel hadn't been around for the first curse, but from what she had gathered it tore everyone apart. For 28 years, people lived in misery without even knowing they had once been happy. She could only imagine what it would be like to live in a world of Pan's creation. Somehow she suspected, it would make Neverland seem like a walk in the park.

They had found Regina, but no Pan. He'd tricked her and now he had the scroll. Luckily they still stood a chance. If they were to switch Henry and Pan back, before he could cast the curse, Henry could return the scroll to them. In order to perform the switch though, they needed the black fairy's wand. Tink had offered to retrieve it. Along with Charming and Neal, Hook had decided he would join her, in case Pan's shadow would show up. Ariel had offered to come too, but Hook insisted she stay at the shop where it was safe. Reluctantly she had agreed and asked him to place a flower on Wendy's coffin for her.

She couldn't believe her friend was truly gone. Only a day ago did she sit on her bed at Granny's and chatted away about how utterly annoying her brothers could be, but how incredbly glad she was to have found them again. Poor John and Michael...

Regina regarded Ariel from afar. She looked lost in her thoughts. Her heartache was palpable. Looking around the room, Regina noticed it, in what way Pan had touched all of their lives. He had turned them upside down. He had torn them all to shreds just to sate his selfish desires to stay young and powerful. What she was looking at now, were mere remnants of the courage and hope everyone had been desperately trying to hold on to. They had all lost someone, or nearly lost someone. That took its toll on one's soul. Eventhough mermaids were supposedly without souls, Ariel appeared particularly dejected. The marks on her face only intensified the sadness radiating off of her.

Back in Neverland, when Snow and the pirate had arrived with the battered mermaid, she'd been shocked to see exactly how far Pan would go, to get what he wanted. It was one of the reasons she'd eventually put a spell on Henry's heart. Pan wasn't the type to give up easily. She was like that once too. Not caring who or what got in her way, as long as she could destroy Snow White. She knew precisely how bad things could get if they didn't stop Pan. Seeing the cuts and bruises and all that blood on Ariel, it had tugged at her heart, but she had pushed it away at the time. The mermaid had been nothing to her, Henry was the only thing that mattered and she'd convinced herself that any means justified keeping him safe.

However, she wasn't the only one who loved Henry and she wasn't the only one who had come close to losing someone. Emma and Neal had too, almost lost their son. Snow nearly lost her prince to dreamshade. Ariel was the only one out of all of them, who had actually lost someone. Two someones. Her prince, back when she'd stolen her voice and now the girl, Wendy.

It was because of her, she had even crossed paths with Pan in Neverland. She brought her there to retrieve that box and once Ariel had come through for them, she hadn't spared a single thought on the mermaid's fate. Granted she'd been under the impression she was halfway to Storybroooke to get her happily ever after, but when she found out Pan was holding Ariel captive, she should have done more to help her. She had magic, it would have been easy to rescue her. Maybe there had still been a part of her that had been pleased that she wasn't the only one deprived of a happy ending. But that was wrong. Without Ariel they would have never gotten as far as they did.

For Regina, it was difficult to care about someone other than herself. Especially since she had been taught from an early age, that love is weakness and the more people you cared for, the weaker you would be. Enemies would exploit that love. Pan taking advantage of her affection for Henry proved it. Yet it was also strength. Emma and her parents had shown her that.

Without realising it, Regina stood up and made her way over to Ariel.

"Ariel..."

The mermaid was shaken out of her pondering by the mention of her name.

This was quite hard. Harder than she would have thought. So many evil deeds and she had yet to apologise for any one of them. How do some people express their regrets so easily?

"Listen... I wanted to let you know... I'm sorry," she uttered slowly, bowing her head slightly.

Ariel looked up at her. Surprised and a little curious as to what brought this on, she decided to hear her out.

"It was because of me that you ended up in Pan's claws. I... feel responsible for the pain you've had to endure."

Silence fell between the two women and just as Regina was about to tell her to say something, anything, she did.

"Thank you."

Her voice was so soft and sincere.

Regina smiled kindly while trying to find a more positive topic to talk about. "What ever did happen with your prince? Did you find him?"

Ariel's expression saddened. Not the right topic. "Yeah, I did. It.. didn't work out."

"Oh, that's... unfortunate." Regina struggled to find the right words to say. She mentally kicked herself for bringing up such a sensitive subject.

"Well, as it turns out, my heart belongs to another sailor."

Now that was a surprise. "I guess there's no accounting for taste," she mumbled under her breath, hoping Ariel would take it as a joke.

"I'll have you know, I'm every woman's fantasy," Hook sauntered over and placed his arm around Ariel's waist, who thankfully didn't seem hurt by her comment. Realising, that with Hook back, Tinkerbell was also back. With the wand. She turned around, but before walking off she addressed Ariel one more time.

"Are we-"

"We're okay," she nodded. "I accept your apology Regina. Go take care of your son."

Ariel watched her rush to Henry's side.

"Apology? The Queen deemed you worthy enough of her apologies did she?"

Ariel gave Hook an admonishing glare. "She's trying."

They rejoined the group, watching Rumpelstiltskin expel Henry's soul from Pan's body. When it was done, Ariel was about to accompany the others outside, to look for the real Henry, when Hook pulled her aside. "Hey," he whispered, smiling gently, "Wendy, she's alive."

"What?" Ariel's eyes widened. "How?"

"Tink defeated the shadow, she was revived shortly after."